The Curse of Evil
The Pain of Evil – Part 2

Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Yesterday we looked at the pain of evil that Adam and Eve had to endure because of their disobedience. The question for today is: Does God still operate this way in the New Testament? Since we are under grace and Jesus paid the price of our sins, how does God deal with our sins? In my opinion, we must first keep a clear definition of the New Testament’s view of sin; it is different than the Old Testament’s definition. In the Old Testament, any missing of the perfect mark was sin. However, in the New Testament this is refined to speak to the motive and knowledge of one’s actions, not just the action. The Apostle James wrote: “anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4:17). In other words, we are accountable for the behaviors that “miss the perfect will of God” only when we know—when we are conscious of what we are doing! Jesus’ death on the cross covers the sins of unthinking, unintentional behavior that is un-Christ like. This doesn’t mean some of our poor behaviors are not regrettable; we should be quick to heal the relationships we harmed by those behaviors. But as far as actual “sin,” this comes only when we do something that is pre-meditated and intentionally rebelled against the “known” will of God. Under the New Testament grace of Jesus, we can’t sin against God accidentally. God does hold us accountable for a behavior that we thought through and decided we wanted our way more than His!

Father, forgive me when I decide I’m right and do what is not pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, amen.